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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1981)
Emerald a/! A\/cr O I Vol. 82, No. 147 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday,Tk^rtf 5, 1981 Olum chides lawmakers about cuts By ANN PORTAL Of the Emerald University Pres. Paul Olum blasted state legislators Monday for being "too scared to do the job they were hired to do." Speaking at a Lane County Democrats’ Fo rum, Olum said legislators believe they are acting on a mandate from voters to lower property taxes. But if Oregonians were given a fair assessment of what those lower taxes will mean to the state, they wouldn’t feel the trade-off was worth it, he said. "Legislators should vote their conscience and go back home and tell them (constituents) about it.” Olum proposed that property tax relief be "strongly tied to income." Those in higher tax brackets should receive no relief at all, he said. Although Olum criticized both Gov. Vic Atiyeh's higher education budget and the addi tional 10-percent cut being considered by the Legislature, he said the University at least could survive under Atiyeh's proposed $1 5-million cut. Olum’s main criticism of Atiyeh’s proposal is that it contains no money for program survival, specifically badly needed library and law school funding. Also, the governor's proposal would allow only a 6-percent increase in faculty and classified salaries and would eliminate about 28 faculty positions, a corresponding number of Graduate Teaching Fellowships and 17 classified positions. However, the University can continue to build with modest funding and be ready to push ahead at the end of the biennium, Olum said. But a 10-percent decrease in state aid would be disastrous for the University, he said. The Legislature’s desire to eliminate waste in the state's budget is understandable, but the Univer r sity “has already done it" over the past several years, Olum said “We have no margin, no fat, no room for maneuverability.” Olum said a 10-percent cut would require firing 200 faculty members, eliminating 3'/2 professional schools and closing seven or eight arts and sciences departments. But don’t ask which departments would be cut, Olum said. “I’m not about to cut our own throats in anticipation that someone will cut them for us." A 10-percent cut would equal about $5 mil lion in direct support but could go as high as $7.5 million because of lost tuition and grant overhead, according to Olum. Eugene also would be hit by the “domino effect” of faculty firings Faculty salaries are recycled 5'/2 times in Eugene businesses, which could mean a $22-million revenue loss if the salaries of 200 faculty leave Eugene, Olum said. The alternative for dealing with a 10-percent cut — lowering all salaries by 10 percent — is unacceptable, he said. Teachers elsewhere in the country are receiving 11- or 12-percent salary increases. "I will not recommend such a cut.” The Legislature would be destroying something that can’t be restored, Olum said. If a professional school is closed, it won’t reopen for at least a decade, and that means top faculty will leave and never return, he said. “Good people will be long gone and won’t be coming back. Our best people are getting very good offers right now.” But Olum said he is hopeful that the Legisla ture and Oregonians will realize how important good higher education is. “I tend to be optimistic, because we can't afford to lose.” T \I»>M t Paul Olum They sleep with guns' Habits, memories returned with Vietnam vets EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part article on dealing with veterans. By ANNA HOYT Ot the Emerald His roommates don’t wake him up. They fear that he might be dreaming he was back on the battlefield. Reesa George, who lives with two Vietnam veter ans, says she learned early that “you don’t wake them up or enter the bedroom unless you know for sure they’re awake. “They sleep with their guns,” she says. “Every one I know does.” Living with a Vietnam veteran can require much understanding and patience from family and friends. The Disabled American Veterans organization es timates that a half-million or more Vietnam veterans suffer from post-combat stress. But the stress victims are not mentally ill, the DAV emphasizes, they just have some adjustment problems to work out Paranoia and sleeping with guns are common reactions for Vietnam veterans — but not all of them. John Eskins is one of many learning to deal with a past that haunts him. Eskins — known as "Speedy" to friends — has been sleeping with his shotgun since he came home in 1969. “It's just a habit I picked up in Nam," Eskins says “That’s something I’ve never lost, the self-protection (instinct)." . Graphic by Anna Hoyt But he's not afraid of accidentally using the gun if he is unexpectedly awakened. "I’ve been trained better,” he says. Eskins admits living with guns can be a little uneasy for other members of the household. "It makes them nervous,” he says. "My sister would knock on my head with a broom handle to wake me up.” Eskins says sometimes he'll have dreams of Viet nam and wake up “flipped-out." When he first came home, he’d sleep on the couch with his eyes open. His eyes would follow people walking by, but he'd be sound asleep. One time when his mother tried to wake him, he jumped up and started slapping her. For his girlfriend, Eskins' habits restrict spontaneity in their relationship — she can’t even sneak up behind Eskins and tickle him "I tried that once, but he turned around and told me never to do that again,” she says.' It’s a part of me to be playful, so it bothered me " Worse, she says, his gun toting bothers her. "He carries them with him everywhere, and I’m not used to it. I don’t say anything about it because it's his thing,” she says. "But I wonder sometimes if this is the kind of guy I want to be with the rest of my life.” Since the war, Eskins says he’s become "more hard-nosed” in his relationships with women. "I’m hard to get along with," he says. "I fought hard for my freedom and feel I can do what I want."
